Sir Francis Drake

Description

Definitive life of one of Britain's great maritime heroes by the acclaimed author of NELSON- A DREAM OF GLORY. More than four hundred years after his death, Sir Francis Drake remains one of the legendary figures of history. His career is one of the most colourful on record. The most daring of the corsairs who raided the West Indies and Spanish Main, he led the English into the Pacific, and circumnavigated the world to bring home the Golden Hind laden with Spanish treasure. His attacks on Spanish cities and ships transformed his private war into a struggle for survival between Protestant England and Catholic Spain, in which he became Elizabeth I's most prominent admiral. His exploits marked the emergence of England as a major maritime nation.

Dr John Sugden has pursued a busy trans-Atlantic career as a lecturer, senior research fellow and writer. He is the author of a series of acclaimed articles and books, including Tecumseh: A Life, which won the Distinguished Book Award of the American Society for Military History, and Blue Jacket, which won the Ohioana Award, Nelson: A Dream of Glory, and, most recently, Nelson: Sword of Albion.

"Excellent...It deserves to become the standard Drake life. His scholarship is impeccable" -- Frank McLynn Sunday Telegraph "Excellent...he gives us throughout a highly sympathetic though not unbalanced portrait of a remarkable man" -- Linda Colley "The scope of his book, and the skill with which he handles generally unreliable sources, is impressive...The accounts of the circumnavigation, the attack on Cadiz and the defeat of the Armada are a comprehensive, and as readable, as any that have yet appeared" -- Brendan King Literary Review